Sometimes I see posts in Facebook groups where people are wondering why they can’t adopt a pedigree cat and decide later if they want to breed with them. What is wrong with having just one litter of kittens and then neuter the cat?
The downside of heat
Well… it is not that simple. Being in heat is stressful for the cat and can cause inflammation in the womb (Pyometra) that can lead to death in some cases, so, if the cat is not meant for breeding, it is risky to keep them intact. A neutered cat is more relaxed, doesn’t suffer from hormones that make her reject eating for weeks, doesn’t lose hair during heat, doesn’t annoy the neighbors with loud singing when calling the males.
There is really no point keeping the cats’ reproductive organs when they are not meant to be bred.
Who decides which cats need to be bred?
Well, there are so many cats worldwide that would need a home. Shelters are full. Breeding cats is really not about creating more animals without an actual reason, it is not about selling kittens as an income. Dedicated breeders breed cats because they want to preserve the unique appearance of a certain breed. And in order to do that, only the best cats should be kept in the breeding program.
Letting cats mate with whoever (even a different breed to create so cute mix kittens) is not what breeders do. When breeders evaluate the kittens in a litter, they carefully evaluate which cat is good for breeding, they evaluate how many cats from that generation are already in a breeding program of any other breeder to keep the gene pool wide, consider the blood line and health of the kittens and then decide if the kitten is supposed to be bred or neutered.
If a kitten is not suitable for breeding, it really should not be mated at all. It would just create more kittens for no reason, and take the opportunity from a shelter cat to find a home.
Cats were meant to give birth
Yes, well, nature created cats to be very reproductive. But having a litter of kittens is not as easy at it sounds. Yeah, thousands of kittens were born in barns without human help. I know. But how many of them survived before humans noticed the litter? It is a bit different to follow a pregnancy of our beloved cat, see the birth and then see the little ones fading and dying within days, not even understanding why. There is quite some knowledge behind successfully breeding cats.
Breeders really just want to keep the fun for themselves
When future pet owners ask the breeder if they could just get the kitten without an obligation to neuter it, breeders face the issue: How to explain in a friendly way what is wrong with this idea?
When I participated the PawPeds course, we had to create flyers to spread the information about this topic. I think it’s a good idea to share my flyer on this website. It might be interesting for some.
©The above content is subject to copyright but you are welcome to share it via link that points back to the original article. Or request a watermark-free copy.